


The Wholly Unlikely Rebirth of Zack Fair Into The Little Boy He Always Acted Like

by DrNeverland



Series: Of Things That May Be Only 'Verse [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Angst and Humor, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Prequel, Rebirth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 13:26:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4962310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrNeverland/pseuds/DrNeverland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prequel short to "Of Things That May Be Only," involving Zack and Aerith and Angeal as they begin to plot against Jenova and her calamitous son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wholly Unlikely Rebirth of Zack Fair Into The Little Boy He Always Acted Like

**Author's Note:**

> It helps if you're familiar with Case of Lifestream: White and Case of Lifestream: Black, but it's not necessary to really understand what's going on. I wrote this after finishing Chapter 15, so it's not exactly a "part 2" as the series notation makes it seem.

“I don’t know, Aerie, this feels like a breakup.”

Aerith laughed behind both hands and shook her head. “Why do you think I’m breaking up with you?” she asked.

Zack stuck his arms out at his sides in a gesture at nothing because the place they stood in was really a nowhere. “Because you’re saying I’m gonna be reborn! I mean, shouldn’t it be _you?_ You’re the all-powerful Planet Princess! I’m sure you’d do a lot of good if you were alive again.”

Aerith sighed and reached up to push Zack’s arms down. He leaned over her now, so tall, but with the plans in place, he was going to get so much smaller. “I know you think that, but I do much more good here than I could there.”

Zack pouted and put his forehead down against hers. “And what good am I going to do? You’re gonna make me a runt. A cute runt, but still… I’m gonna be so puny again.”

Aerith chuckled and ducked under Zack’s chin and hugging him. “You’ll grow up, for one thing.”

“Me? Grow up? Vertically, maybe…” Zack’s laughter made her feel a little less guilty about not being able to go with him, back into the world of the living. “I hope you don’t expect me to actually _mature._ ”

“Never did,” she teased back. “Besides, I told you, you’re not going back alone. I made sure to get you a babysitter.” She pulled back and smiled up at him. Zack smiled back, but he still looked unsure if he really wanted to be reborn.

“I promise, you’ll like him.”

Zack’s eyebrows raised. “Him, whom? Do I know him?”

In answer to his question, a third person stepped out of the bright surrounding them. Zack’s eyes light up and immediately began to water as the familiar shape of his old mentor became clear right beside him.

“Angeal…” gasped Zack.

“I’m always going to be keeping an eye on you, aren’t I?” asked the bigger man. Aerith smiled as Zack let her go to nearly pounce Angeal and hug him as tight as his arms would allow. “I missed you too, Zack.”

Aerith took a deep breath and fanned herself. “You two are making me emotional,” she said quietly.

Zack pulled away from Angeal and rubbed at the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry, Aerie… I hadn’t seen him since…”

“Since I pulled you into the Lifestream myself,” finished Angeal.

“So, does this mean you’re gonna go back too, like my big brother or something? Because that would be kinda cool.” Zack nudged Angeal with his elbow. Angeal chuckled and shoved back playfully.

“Let’s focus on one thing at a time, shall we?” interrupted Aerith. She could tell Zack wanted to pal around more with his old mentor, and felt the guilt and pain that threaded the two of them together from their past. “Angeal still has work to do on this side.”

“Then… I mean, not to say that I’m not glad to see you, because I thought you’d have moved on yourself, but… what’s your actual role in this, Geal?” Zack asked.

“Well, I am going to be your guardian, but I’m not going to be human. I just have to make sure you’re found and taken care of at the proper time. Then, I’m coming right back here to help Aerith with her project,” replied Angeal. “You’re going to get to help them this time.”

Zack took a deep breath and nodded. Aerith had explained it all to him, though he’d had some difficulty in accepting his part, he did come around to it. “Okay. I mean, it’s still weird to think I’m just going to ‘pop’ into existence again.”

Aerith shook her head. “I told the Planet I wasn’t going to sacrifice another’s life for you, so it’s kind of a… group birthing. That’s why you’re going to Midgar. The pool is there.”

Zack pointed at her and shook his head. “And that’s why it’s weird.”

Angeal put a hand on Zack’s shoulder. “The Planet birthed those massive Weapons on its own. A little boy is going to be much easier.”

Zack raised an eyebrow at Angeal and put his hands on his hips. “I don’t get how you understand this better than I do. I’m the one with the cosmic girlfriend.”

“Swallowing metaphors is a lot easier if you’ve heard LOVELESS every day of your life.”

“Point taken,” replied Zack. He clapped his hands together and finally focused on Aerith again, which made her feel much more relieved. “Let’s do this. Should I be naked?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Aerith. “Just lie on your back and let me do the rest.”

In the nothingness, Zack leaned back until he was supported by Angeal’s hands at the back of his head and the small of his back, as if he were learning to swim again. Aerith rested both of her hands on Zack’s chest and his face. She lightly grazed her thumb over the scar Angeal had left there long ago.

“Ready?” she asked.

Zack took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah.” He looked between Aerith and Angeal. “I love you guys, you know that, right?”

“Of course, silly.”

“I know,” whispered Angeal. “And I’ll be looking after you… you won’t know it’s me, though.”

Zack nodded again. One of the terms of his rebirth were that he’d lose all his memories. They’d be given to the Lifestream so a part of who Zack Fair was would stay dead, but who he was as a person would still remain intact. His loving heart, his optimism, his openness… abstract aspects would stay with him like anger and vindictiveness had been retained by Sephiroth’s spirit.

It was the contrast of his personality that the Planet needed most. It felt the dark spot of Sephiroth’s grim persona begin to shift and draw itself away from the Lifestream again. Jenova’s hatred was still strong and being filtered through Sephiroth’s soul.

This time, Aerith hoped that making an offensive play before Jenova wound Sephiroth up once more would make all the difference. When AVALANCHE had defeated him, Jenova had convinced Sephiroth to shred his soul and cling to only pain and rage so that when he came back through Kadaj, the little avatar Sephiroth had created would only know that kind of agony.

Aerith, while startled by Sephiroth’s powerful fury, had taken the opportunity of his split to begin to gather what he had discarded. Every bit of Sephiroth, the man he had been, the friends he had lost, the lonesome past… she picked up the largest pieces and began to mold them together.

Angeal had helped her find some of the parts that weren’t so painful, good memories they had shared and taught her what that felt like, to know what Sephiroth’s soul felt like where memories were happier. The small number of them was depressing.

Still, it helped to convince Zack that he wasn’t just going to be reborn as a mission from the Planet, but that he was going to help Sephiroth in a way he hadn’t been able to before. And he was going to help Cloud – not to defeat Sephiroth with any sort of steel, but a metaphoric weapon.

The jokes about “defeating evil with the power of love!” had been non-stop for close to a month.

 

Aerith leaned down over Zack and placed a kiss on his lips. “Take a deep breath, and close your eyes.” Zack did as he was told, and Aerith stood up again. She gently laid a hand over his heart and felt warmth seeping up from her fingertips where she touched him. She moved her hands over his torso and limbs; flecks of color and light clung to her fingertips and then gently fluttered away like dandelion seeds in the wind.

“You’re going to feel smaller, and it might get scary, but Angeal and I are here for you… that feeling is never going to leave, even if you don’t know who we are.” Aerith sniffed and smiled to Zack. “You are loved, and you are safe…”

Aerith could feel Zack shiver and his breath hitch in his chest as he held it. Angeal kept him stable, while he floated in the nothingness under Aerith’s hands. His form began to shift and change. The SOLDIER uniform he had died in dissolved in a scatter of black and gray specks that swirled off into the Lifestream, taking away with it the memories of Zack’s enlistment, leaving his parents, and joining ShinRa, which included being mentored by the man who cradled his shrinking form.

Angeal looked up to Aerith and she felt him study her face. “He’s still going to know you, innately, that you’re someone he can trust.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned about. You still haven’t told me why I can’t find him,” said Angeal. She didn’t have to ask who Angeal meant, but she had avoided the topic of Genesis because she didn’t understand his role yet, either. There was only so much she witnessed from her place in the Lifestream, and what she couldn’t see was never made privy to her, either. It was one frustration she had with not being entirely in control.

“Genesis never died, Angeal. He’s… a servant of Minerva, now.” Aerith looked away from Angeal to touch Zack’s face. He had gone into a sleep as a result of his transformation; his body was slim and gangly now, as he slipped back through the awkwardness of puberty.  “Minerva is the Lifestream’s guardian.”

She could feel Angeal stare at her again and moved her hand back to Zack’s chest. She met Angeal’s eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line. “Go on, ask.”

“Is this Minerva…?”

“The Goddess? Honestly, I don’t know. The Lifestream doesn’t keep up on its own lore, but if you ever met her, I’d say she qualifies. There’s so much of the Planet’s history lost to humans, it’s… kind of sad, actually. I don’t think Sephiroth would have ever turned his back on humanity if we hadn’t let the stories of the past go so easily. It might have told the real story of Jenova and the Ancients.” Aerith leaned over Zack as she spoke and brushed hair away from his eyes. He had grown smaller still, and while he looked sweet and innocent as ever, she felt pain in her heart as their personal connection severed. She glanced at Angeal, who looked equally devastated. It seemed Zack’s tie to him had been lost as well.

If they didn’t have more work to do, Aerith would have reached out to the other man to console him, but it wasn’t the time for that. When he returned, then there might be time to grieve properly, and Angeal knew that.

The small boy that floated between them looked so small and fragile now, a body too delicate to seem like it ever belonged to Zack. It was free of all the scars of life: gone were the experimental gouges from Hojo’s torment, the track marks from Mako injections… no more callouses from wielding a sword… and no scar from a desperately suicidal Angeal coercing him to fight.

Instead, there was just a little boy, innocent and pure, free from the burdens of his previous existence. Aerith took her hands away from the boy and let Angeal pick him up. She folded her hands in front of her face and watched little Zack cling to Angeal, even while unconscious. Tears welled up in her eyes as she took a step forward and touched Angeal’s arm.

Angeal trembled as he cradled Zack; even though the Lifestream made everything equal, he seemed afraid to break the boy he held in his arms. “It’s time to go, then,” he said with a whisper. Aerith nodded up at him.

“It is. Time to go back.” Aerith pulled Zack down and Angeal stooped awkwardly to let her whisper a goodbye. “Be good, Zack. You’re always going to be loved,” she whispered. Zack turned in his slumber toward the soft voice and hugged Angeal’s neck.

“All right, kid… let’s go…” Angeal stepped back with Zack in his arms and unfurled a brilliant, white wing. He wrapped this appendage around Zack like a blanket before he opened it again and flew off into the Lifestream, away from Aerith.

_Good luck, you two…_ she prayed.

\-----------------------

In the ruins of Old Midgar, under the shroud of night, a hound with grey-black fur climbed out of the pond in the abandoned church. On its back, the large dog carried a small boy over to a bed of flowers that grew in front of the old pulpit. The dog gently laid down to let the boy slide off his back, then it curled up beside him to sleep. Together, they would wait.


End file.
